MK Ultra Mushroom Marsala Sauce
Formulated to blow your mind!
Forget government conspiracies and mind-control experiments; the only thing this dish will hypnotize is your taste buds. Inspired by the (in)famous MK Ultra project, this Mushroom Marsala is designed to blow your mind—in the best way possible. While the CIA may have kept its recipes for chaos top-secret, we're sharing this savory delight with full transparency. We just had to change to a more standard mushroom blend from the CIA version.
With earthy mushrooms, a rich Marsala sauce, and flavors so good they’ll feel like a classified breakthrough, this dish will have you questioning reality—specifically, how you ever lived without it. Let’s dive into the lab (or kitchen) and cook up some deliciously declassified comfort food!
This sauce works with chicken, steak, pork, or even with a pasta. We’ll start with a small easily scalable portion.
If using the sauce for a meat then season the meat on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat up your pan on medium heat and coat with olive oil. Sear your meat on both sides and cook until its almost, but not quite, finished then set aside while you build your sauce. If you cooked meat then use the same pan to build the sauce to add a layer of flavor. The yummy bits in the bottom of the pan is called a fond, and its delicious. If not the following steps will work just fine for a pasta perhaps.
Put a knob of butter, about a tablespoon, in the pan. Once melted add in one finely chopped shallot and cook until softened (about 3 or 4 minutes…ish). Next add 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms. Cremini or button or shitake, whatever is your favorite. I use cremini, aka baby portabella, and I feel as though that’s the most common choice. The CIA version had a special “magic mushroom” blend, this version is both tastier and safer. I’ve posted the basic ingredient list is at the bottom for convenience.
Toss in a pinch of salt to help sweat the water out of the shrooms. Once you’ve sweat the mushrooms down a bit add a tablespoon more butter. Add a teaspoon of freshly cut thyme leaves and a half teaspoon (ish) of freshly ground black pepper and stir in for another minute. As soon as that melts add 1 tablespoon of all purpose flour and stir in. The flour helps to thicken the sauce. Cook this for a few minutes to cook the raw edge off the flour.
Now we are going to deglaze the pan. That means to scrape of the lovely flavor bits, the fond, stuck to the bottom of the pan. I usually eyeball this, but add 3/4 cup of marsala wine and with a wooden spoon stir around until all the yummy bits from the bottom are incorporated. Next add a cup of chicken stock, store bought or home made, and stir in. You will want to simmer this sauce until you cook off the alcohol in the wine and the volume reduces by a third to a half. At this point I stir in about a half a cup of cream and simmer a couple minutes. You’ll want the sauce to coat the back of a spoon for the right consistency.
Once you get to this point check your sauce for seasoning. Add salt and/or pepper to taste. Once you like it add your meat back into the pan, including any accumulated meat juice, and finish cooking the meat for a few minutes.
You’ve done it! Serve with pasta or mashed potatoes or whatever tickles your fancy. Your a home chef now!
Let me know how yours turned out in the comments. Id love to hear from you! Until next time…keep on cooking like every meal is your last! And remember, the secret ingredient is love.
Rock on home chef!
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter (plus an extra knob for the mushrooms)
1 finely chopped shallot
8 ounces sliced mushrooms (Cremini or your choice)
1 teaspoon freshly cut thyme leaves
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
¾ cup Marsala wine
1 cup chicken stock
½ cup cream
Bruh. 🔥🔥🔥